Arun Gandhi controversy, my opinion

Here's the Wikipedia entry about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arun_Gandhi

Lengthy article about the controversy and resignation:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jan25/0,4670,GandhiPeaceCenter,00.html

snip

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mahatma Gandhi's grandson resigned from the peace institute he co-founded after condemnation of his comments that Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in a culture of violence that "is eventually going to destroy humanity."
Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of the revered pacifist, said Friday that his comments, which were posted on an online forum, were meant "to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence."
"Instead, unintentionally, my words have resulted in pain, anger, confusion and embarrassment. I deeply regret these consequences," Gandhi said.
He apologized "for my poorly worded post," saying he shouldn't have implied that Israeli government policies reflected the views of all Jewish people.
Larry Fine, head of the Jewish Federation of Rochester, called the posting "reprehensible."
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called it "shameful that a peace institute would be headed up by a bigot."
"One would hope that the grandson of such an illustrious human being would be more sensitive to Jewish history," Foxman said.

snip

Gandhi was on a panel of scholars, writers and clergy who discuss a new topic weekly on The Washington Post's "On Faith" page and his comments, posted Jan. 7, drew a torrent of criticism, much of it unfavorable.
Describing Israel as "a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs," Gandhi asked whether it would "not be better to befriend those who hate you?"
"Apparently, in the modern world so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept," he wrote. "You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."
He wrote that Jewish identity "has been locked into the holocaust experience _ a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of (how) a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends.
"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. ... The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on, the regret turns into anger."
The school's president, Joel Seligman, said in a statement that Gandhi's resignation was appropriate and his remarks "did not reflect the core values" of the university or the institute.

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OK. let's review the facts. Gandhi has had to resign from the very peace organization that he founded because of an Internet dialogue on a comments page.

waiting

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Um, is this beginning to sound all too familiar? His peace center leaves its original location at Christian Brothers University in July 2007, goes to University of Rochester, with lots of press releases about how pleased as punch they are to have obtained his peace institute. Six months later when he makes what some consider outrageous statements, he is vilified by numerous Jewish interests and dumped by the University. Hmm.

My advice to Gandhi is to learn that Internet dialogue is simply bluster and bait, and has nothing intellectual or humanitarian about it. Move on from trying to have conversation or stimulate debate on the Internet and go back to face-to-face grass roots peace initiatives and/or scholarly products of thought and research. Half the people on the Internet are looking to stir up the pot and put stumbling blocks in front of people so they can willfully misunderstand, overreact, and make "street cred" for themselves. It's obvious no one really wants to understand what he meant and look for the kernel of wisdom or perspective within. So I think Gandhi should kiss the peace institute good bye (and Internet writings also) and think of a hands on grass roots project that he and students can engage in to illustrate his concerns and his alternative suggestions. One thing he could do is to teach directly to Palestinians for example, who are starved for role models and information about civics, government, non violence and grass root principles of organization. Develop course curriculum or a text book for use in Palestinian schools? Fund raise for a non violent civics chair in a university or school attended by Palestinians? Develop a seminar about how to advocate within hostile environments using peaceful grassroot techniques? That's what I would do if I were in his position. Teach them to fish instead of arguing about how safe the waters are that they have to fish within. Best of luck and peace.